Results for Crappie USA $10,000.00 2-Day Super Event at Columbus, Mississippi
OutdoorHub 03.12.12
This past Friday and Saturday March 9th & 10th Crappie USA held the 2-day $10,000.00 Super Event on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway at Columbus, Mississippi. Anglers from 9 different states were competing for not only a part of the $10,000.00 in cash and prizes, but a chance to advance to the prestigious Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic. This year’s classic will be held October 24th-27th, 2012 on the Barkley/Kentucky Lakes at Cadiz, Kentucky.
Semi-Pro Division Results
Taking first place was the team of Gilford Sipes of Moody, Alabama and Shannon Sipes of Ashville, Alabama with a total 2-day weight of 21.52 pounds and earning $3,000.00 for first place. In addition Gilford and Shannon captured second biggest crappie of the event with a 2.58 pound crappie which netted the team an extra $100.00. In the race for the Ranger Cup Award in the Semi-Pro Division Gilford and Shannon topped the field and received $500.00 for the Ranger Cup Award in the Semi-Pro Division. Gilford and Shannon were fishing the Aliceville pool slow trolling Road Runner Pro 20 heads along with Southern Pro chartreuse jigs in 8-13 feet of water. The team was targeting pre-spawn female white crappie by running the baits over cover and catching over 100 fish in the 2-days with many of them being male crappie.
Second place went to the Tiptonville, Tennessee team of Steve Coleman and Ronnie Capps with a total weight of 20.24 pounds and earning $1,000.00. Steve and Ronnie were fishing deep wood structure on Aliceville Lake using B’n’M live bait rigs on B’n’M Poles. The team caught 80 fish in the 2-days with their fish holding deeper in the AM and moving towards the banks after the sun came up on the water.
In third place was the Columbus, Mississippi team of Willis Bonner and Larry Baldride with a weight of 19.68 pounds and earning $600.00. Willis and Larry were also fishing Aliceville Lake casting chartreuse/black jigs under a bobber in shallow grass 2-4 feet deep. The team caught between 60-90 fish in 2 days.
Tim Fields of Bankston, Alabama and Mickey McAlpine of Fayette, Alabama took fourth place with a weight of 19.27 pounds and earning $400.00. Tim and Mickey were fishing in 8-10 feet of water on Aliceville Lake using live bait part of the time and black/chartreuse Jessee Jigs later in the day in natural cover.
Fifth place went to the Forrest, Arkansas team of Tommy and Jared Roper weighing in 17.93 pounds. Tommy and Jared were slow trolling in Aliceville Lake over 8 feet of water early then moving toward the bank as the fish moved in after the sun came up. The team was flipping blue/chartreuse Southern Pro jigs under a bobber to catch near 30 fish in the 2-days of the event.
Big fish of the event went to Tommy and Wayne Nichols of Fayette, Alabama with a 2.60 pound crappie which give the team a check for $400.00. Tommy and Wayne were fishing Aliceville Lake vertical jigging chartreuse/black tube jigs and a red jig head under a bobber in 2-4 feet of water to catch 75 fish for the 2-days.
Amateur Division Results
First place in the amateur division went to Jesse and Nonna Wright of Fayette, Alabama weighing in 19.77 pounds and earning $2,000.00. Jesse and Nonna were fishing Aliceville in 5-7 feet of water with their fish suspended 2 feet deep in grass. The team said chartreuse/black and purple and yellow was their best colors. The team caught 80 fish in the 2-days.
Second place went to the lone angler Chuck Justice of Louisville, Mississippi with a weight of 18.06 pounds and earning $800.00. Chuck was fishing the Aberdeen pool in the edge of muddy water slow trolling deep early in the morning then moving in shallow as the sun came up. Chuck caught his best fish in 4 feet of water and he said his best colors were chartreuse/red. Chuck caught a total of 40 fish in the 2-days.
Taking third place was Larry Fulton of Brooksville, Mississippi and Greg Abercrombie of Brandon, Mississippi with a weight of 17.7 and earning $600.00. Larry and Greg like many others were fishing Aliceville pool in 10 feet of water early in the morning then moved up to 2 feet of water later in the day catching most of their fish close to the bank in grass where they caught over 100 fish in the 2-days on a variety of colors of baits.
In fourth was the team of Terry Barnes of Nettleton, Mississippi and Joe Shackleford of Amory, Mississippi weighing in 15.85 pounds and earning $500.00. Terry and Joe were fishing Aberdeen in heavy cover mostly in natural stumps in 4-7 feet of water using chartreuse/black Southern Pro Stinger jigs to catch 80 fish in 2-days.
Fifth place went to the team of John and Matthew Feagin of Mayfield, Kentucky weighing in 15.54 pounds and earning $400.00. John and Matthew were slow trolling over stumps in 6 feet of water in Aberdeen lake using Southern Pro orange and red scale head jigs to catch over 125 fish in the 2-days of the event.
Congratulations to all the teams fishing this event. For a complete list of tournament standings and downloadable photos for this event visit www.crappieusa.com then go to Tournament Results.
Crappie USA Free Kids Fishing Rodeo
In conjunction with the tournament Crappie USA held their Kids Rodeo on Saturday morning with several local children attending the event. All the participants signed up for a chance to win one of 6-$2,000.00 scholarships to be drawn for at the Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic.
Crappie USA and our anglers have contributed nearly $310,000.00 to the “Crappie Kids” Scholarships since 1997. We are very proud to be a part of the education process for the youngsters who participate in our tournaments as adult/youth teams and those who fish in the Crappie USA “Kids Fishing Rodeos”.
“We wish to give a special thanks goes out to Nancy Carpenter and Kim Bennett with the Columbus/Lowndes County CVB for hosting and helping make this event a success”, said Crappie USA CEO. “Heavy rains all week left the Tom-Bigbee very muddy, even in adverse conditions the anglers who did stay in town and fished the event caught lots of crappie. This area is truly a very healthy fishery and crappie fishing will be great here for years to come with the huge population of fish in the 7 to 9 inch size”, said Van Vactor. For more information on the area call: 1-800-327-2686 or visit their website at: www.columbus-ms.info.
Stats for the Tournament:
Weather-Friday 35 degrees in the morning warming to 54 late in the day. Saturday started at 40 degrees and warming to 67 by afternoon with winds 10 MPH from the northwest.
Water-Muddy and on the rise .
